Unlike the joy of the wedding, as if darkness was about to envelop the small village, the women and the few villagers who were lucky enough to live to old age were watching the relatives gathered in the clearing around the fence, while Alan took out a bag of gems from the other side of the village and faced them to work on, and he let one of his shadow three-eyed ravens follow the militia from a distance, and then catch up with them to the king's quarters, while he sent the other two north to Yorkshire.

Odegar, one of Harold's captains of the guard and a recruiter, held a wooden cylindrical goblet filled with ale wine, his helmet had been removed, revealing his weather-beaten cheeks, "Friends, I follow the teachings and the precepts, and s......wear in public," he raised his glass, and all the militia who had been called up, with spears in one hand and glasses on their chests in the other, and swore with him the oath of the mead, which he had made before the battle, according to the etiquette of the time, with the oath made before the battle, the Mead oath," I will fight for the king to the last breath. If the king or lord dies in battle, I will follow their example and continue to fight. If anyone sees me greedy for life and afraid of death, and flees in fear, let him call me up with the oath I have taken before my people. ”

With that, everyone drank the wine in their glasses.

"It's time. Odegar gave the order, and then took up his shield and took the lead, and all the militiamen, although reluctant and reluctant to leave their hometown and relatives, still obediently and with fear of the unknown battlefield, picked up their own round shields from the ground, and followed Odega and began to march.

"Oh, my love, return safely!" called the women, choked up.

The unusual behavior of the curly-haired half-breed boy standing alone in front of the door of a low wooden hut with a panicked gaze attracted Odega, who was watching the march, and he beckoned his team to move on, while he himself walked over and crouched down and asked gently, "Merlin, what's wrong with you? What do you see?"

The little boy Merlin pursed his lips, his small chest rose and fell sharply, and he looked at Odegar's eyes full of seriousness: "The warrior king crossed the sea to the west, England was strewn with corpses, and the scavenging blackbird followed, and death came. (Author's note: According to J.K. Rowling's setting, Merlin in the Harry Potter world is the wizard on the chocolate frog card, according to the welcome letter from Slytherin House in the official website PotterMore: Merlin went to Hogwarts, and the house is Slytherin - the green ribbon of the Order of Merlin is to commemorate Merlin's graduation school, and Hogwarts was founded hundreds of years later than the era of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table; The prophecy made here coincides with a doomsday rumor in England during this day and age that coincides with our plot - the last author's note: I'll write a little more word count and make it a free word count in addition to a thousand word rounders. ）

"I told you not to mention it to anyone else, child, it's just a dream of yours. Odegar stopped the boy's words, he didn't want the boys who would normally show that they were different from ordinary children would be considered witches or heretics by others. Odegar searched left and right, as if he wanted to find the boy's adoptive father, Æthelwolf, but unfortunately the other party obviously had a problem with him because of the signs that his son-in-law was being omenced and did not come to see him off, Odegar had to refocus on the boy, "Remember not to tell anyone about this dream, otherwise it will cause trouble for your father and sister." ”

Odegar's expression became solemn, and he stood up with a heart full of worries, since the new king Harold first ascended to the throne, there have been rumors of doomsday in England, but they all point to the king's enemy across the sea to attack the sea and seize the throne of England - and the child named Merlin has been repeating the dream he has just described since he was very young.

The captain of the guard felt a little helpless that this trip might be more auspicious, and how many of the militia from his hometown who had been taken away this time had survived? But the moment he turned around, all his emotions were suppressed by him, and he turned into a cold leader, and he looked curiously at the farmer who had slowed down his march and watched the farmer who had fallen behind, and roared: "Let's go, keep up!"

The afternoon sun shone through the cracks in the forest, and the militiamen, who had been walking in a hurry for most of the day, did not dare to look directly at the dizzying sunlight, and walked silently with their heads bowed. It was customary in this age to recruit a number of armed peasants into the militia, but the end of summer of that year was unusual, when the king's chief of guard plowed every inch of the mountains and forests, and took away every farmer, every shepherd, every beekeeper.

The Vikings who swarmed from the bays of Norway set out from the island of Sauron on the west coast of Norway, where they were assembled, with 500 Viking dragon ships and 30,000 Viking warriors in their king, Harald. Under the leadership of Hadrada, taking advantage of the northerly wind, which lasted longer than in previous years, it took only two days to cross the coast of 300 miles to Scotland, and after a short repair, he continued to sail south along the east coast of Scotland to England, and joined Tosti, the former Earl of Northumbria, who had just been driven north by King Harold of England.

Harald III, who had already understood that this might be his last conquest, decided to keep his son as regent of Norway before his expedition, and he wanted to use the war to make the whole of England tremble, and it meant that he had no hope of returning to Norway whether he won or lost.

Needless to say, he would have died on the battlefield, and if his Viking men, who were skilled in wolf tactics and navigation, were bent on escaping, as long as they ensured the safety of their ships, the British would not be able to stop them. And if he wins, he will follow the example of his ancestors and rebuild the kingdom of the Vikings on the land of England.

The core of Harald's ministry this time consisted of his bodyguard, all of whom were his personal retinue, professional soldiers and killing machines, and they even had veterans who had been fighting for sixteen years.

And Harald also brought with him a special force that did not seem to be very large, these warriors were much taller and stronger than the average Viking, all of them wore bear skins, armed with heavy weapons such as two-handed axes, and combined with potions made by local witches from the seeds of fairies - these pastes, once applied to the skin, could put them into a state of mad rage, with no sense of pain, no fear of death, and no restraint from the horrors of the battlefield— Even if he is impaled by a spear, he will continue to attack the enemy as long as he can.

These berserkers will use their superhuman strength to fight tirelessly until the end of the battle or until they themselves are killed - of course, these berserkers will immediately collapse due to the effects of potions after their anger subsides.

By the time Odegar had set out south from the village of Crawhurst, the deposed earl and the king of Norway had sailed down the River Uss towards the mouth of the Humber River in central England, planning to enter the heart of England and make their way to Yorkshire.

"I kill like a mustard, I have never forgotten a person, I have stabbed thirteen enemies, quietly in the forest, lonely and discredited, why do I need to know, I will eventually hear about it. Harald, who was at the bow of the Viking dragon warship, first read out the verses that had been polished on the ship a few days earlier as a poet, and then turned to his men and his ally Tosti as king, ready to attack, "The grace of St. Olaf shines on me, and I will die as co-lord of Norway and England, and soon we will be able to fill the graveyards of England and feed the crows with the rotting bodies of her people!"